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I'm strongly considering ditching my road bike and my cross bike and going with a single "allroad" type of bike like a SC Stigmata or Open UP. There's plently of gravel around here, as well as good road riding. I really like my roadie SPD-SLs though. Anyone riding gravelly rides with road pedals? Any downsides I'm not thinking of? I rarely dismout, and if I race a CX race I can just swap my mtb pedals on.

I rode my gravel bike with road shoes for much of the winter. It did limit me from trails that were muddy or super steep where I'd have to walk. I switched back to mountain shoes and SPD pedals and then did more trails later in the winter. I'm not that happy with SPD pedals and will be switching to Time ATAC pedals. (I like Time's bio mechanics and the wider platform.)

I'd say that if you rarely dismount then you'd be fine on road shoes. Or maybe you have an old pair of road shoes you don't mind thrashing.

my gravel bike has road SPD on it. They work great, with the caveat that any walking around will hasten the destruction of the cleat, especially the walking pontoons. The cleats also have a tendency to pack with snow/ice (probably mud/dirt too) in the bolt pockets, which will completely prevent clipping in, so you'll have to clean them out with keys or a tool. But for riding on gravel roads and in dry forests, I think they work great.